Spencer Fane LLP attorneys Bob Lattinville and Roger Denny were recently published in USA Today as instrumental contributors to the publication’s annual release of top collegiate head football coach and assistant coach salaries across the FBS conferences. USA Today collaborates with the Spencer Fane sports practice duo to prepare the compensation survey, which you can read here.
Each year, Lattinville and Denny update and refine an independent database of coaching and athletic executive compensation, overlaying the data with both historic and current performance metrics, as well as the athletic department’s financial indicators. This reveals a deeper view of how coaching and athletic executive decisions – and their salaries – have shaped the financial condition and win-loss columns of these institutions. This refined understanding of the relationship between salary, department economics and performance provides their clients a competitive advantage as they assist their clients in vetting, selecting and negotiating compensation of top coaching candidates.
Lattinville and Denny are trusted by athletic directors, athletic departments and coaches throughout the sports industry, providing trusted guidance in successfully navigating complex business, legal and regulatory issues associated with crucial hiring, operations and capital decisions.
The analysis comes at a critical juncture as the coaching carousel approaches and institutions evaluate their programs to make difficult decisions regarding extending or terminating current coaching contracts. While a program’s stakeholders are reluctant to continue paying a high salary to an under-performing coach, it can be equally costly to pay dead money (payments made to coaches no longer employed by universities) or incur the cost of hiring and transitioning a new coach and staff.
Lattinville and Denny focus on helping accurately evaluate a coach’s true impact on an athletic program, providing the intel and analysis needed to make the most prudent decisions possible.